Standalone herb processing, vaporizing, and administration apparatuses, systems, and methods

ABSTRACT

An herb vaporizing apparatus includes an herb receiving port, a grinder to grind the herb, and a heating chamber for heating the ground herb to create a vapor. A first end of the heating chamber is positioned closer to a top of the apparatus than a second end of the heating chamber, such that the ground herb generally moves in at least a partially downward direction as it travels through the heating chamber. The apparatus further includes a screw feeder positioned within the heating chamber that rotates and moves the ground herb within the heating chamber. The apparatus further includes an air pump for pumping vapor out of the heating chamber and a valve positioned along an airway between the heating chamber and a vapor output. The valve permits air and the vapor to move from the heating chamber to the vapor output only while the air pump is activated.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 17/073,028, filed on Oct. 16, 2020 (nowgranted as U.S. Pat. No. 11,013,260), the entire contents of each ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Many people use herbs, oils, or other substances along with devices forcreating vapors. For example, certain herbs, oils, or other substancesmay be heated to create vapors that may be used for medicinal purposes,for creating scents in a room, or for any other purpose. The vaporscreated may, for example, be inhaled by a user.

SUMMARY

An illustrative standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration apparatus includes an herb receiving port configured toreceive herb, a grinder configured to grind the herb received at theherb receiving port into ground herb, and a heating chamber configuredto receive the ground herb. The heating chamber is configured to heatthe ground herb, to thereby create a vapor. The heating chamber alsocomprises a first end at which the ground herb is initially received,and a second end at which the ground herb is output from the heatingchamber. The first end of the heating chamber is positioned closer to atop of the standalone herb processing, vaporizing, and administrationapparatus than the second end of the heating chamber, such that theground herb generally moves in at least a partially downward directionas it travels through the heating chamber. The standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus further includes ascrew feeder positioned within the heating chamber, the screw feederconfigured to rotate and thereby move the ground herb within the heatingchamber. The standalone herb processing, vaporizing, and administrationapparatus further includes an air pump configured to pump the vapor outof the heating chamber to a vapor output device and a valve positionedalong an airway between the heating chamber and the vapor output device.The valve is configured to permit air and the vapor to move from theheating chamber to the vapor output device only while the air pump isactivated.

An illustrative apparatus includes a heating chamber configured toreceive ground herb. The heating chamber is configured to heat theground herb. The heating chamber further includes a first end at whichthe ground herb is initially received, and a second end at which theground herb is output from the heating chamber. The apparatus furtherincludes a screw feeder positioned within the heating chamber, the screwfeeder configured to rotate and thereby move the ground herb within theheating chamber.

An illustrative apparatus includes a heating chamber configured toreceive ground herb. The heating chamber is configured to heat theground herb. The heating chamber further includes a first end at whichthe ground herb is initially received, and a second end at which theground herb is output from the heating chamber. The first end of theheating chamber is positioned closer to a top of the standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus than the second endof the heating chamber.

An illustrative apparatus includes a heating chamber configured toreceive ground herb and heat the ground herb, to thereby create a vapor.The apparatus further includes an air pump configured to pump the vaporout of the heating chamber to a vapor output device. The apparatusfurther includes a valve positioned along an airway between the heatingchamber and the vapor output device. The valve is configured to permitair and the vapor to move from the heating chamber to the vapor outputdevice only while the air pump is activated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example standalone herb processing,vaporizing, and administration apparatus, in embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an example heating chamber, screwfeeder, and grinder of a standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration apparatus, in embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of an example heating chamber andscrew feeder of a standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration apparatus, in embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view of an example heatingchamber and screw feeder of the standalone herb processing, vaporizing,and administration apparatus of FIG. 1, in embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a partially exploded perspective view of the standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus of FIG. 1 with oneside of the housing having been removed to reveal the internalcomponents therein, in embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the heating chamber, air pump,valve, and vapor output device of the standalone herb processing,vaporizing, and administration apparatus of FIG. 1, in embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of the heating chamber and aheating element of the standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration apparatus of FIG. 1, in embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustrating an example standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration system, in embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an example method of using astandalone herb processing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus tocreate a vapor from herb, in embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating an example method of cleaningstandalone herb processing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus, inembodiments.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view of an example user computing environment,in embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various apparatuses, methods, and systems for standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration devices are described herein.In particular, the embodiments herein relate to a device that is userfriendly and automates as many aspects as possible of a process ofprocessing herb for vaporizing (e.g., grinding), vaporizing the herb(e.g., heating ground herb to specified temperature), andadministering/delivering the resulting vapor to a user. Suchapparatuses, methods, and systems may further be implemented, at leastin part, using a processor or controller that executes software code orinstructions stored on a memory (e.g., a computer implemented method) tocontrol various aspects of a standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration device and to further automate the use and maintenance ofsuch a device to provide a user-friendly product. Any type of herb orother product that is suitable to vaporize may be used according to thevarious systems, apparatuses, and methods described herein. For example,herbs such as cannabis, damiana, catnip, valerian, passion flower,lavender, lemon balm, wild lettuce, chamomile, hops, gunpowder greentea, blue lotus, yerba mate, calea zacatechichi, peppermint, thyme,basil, eucalyptus, rosemary, sage, anise, jasmine, rose, mugwort, clove,ginseng, morning glory, St. John's Wort, hibiscus, burdock root, coffee,hemp, tobacco, or any other plant, herb, or oil may be vaporized asdescribed herein.

As just one example, individuals or users that have limited mobility ordexterity due to age, a medical condition, etc. may benefit from theembodiments of the standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration devices described herein. Traditional ways of preparingherb and vaporizing it for use may be difficult for such individuals,requiring them to rely on the assistance of a caregiver or, left ontheir own, to complete aspects of preparing and vaporizing herb in asuboptimal way.

For example, a standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration device may receive dried herb into a hopper or other herbreceiving port. The device may initiate a process of processing andvaporizing the herb automatically (e.g., if the device includes a sensorfor detecting that herb has been put in the device) or upon a minimalinteraction from a user (e.g., at the push of a button). In an examplewith a push button, it may be large and easy to push so that users withlimited mobility or dexterity may push the button to begin theprocessing and vaporization process of the herb. In addition, the hopperof the device may be pre-loaded with a significant amount of herb thatwill last for multiple uses. In this way, if a user is not able to orotherwise needs help loading the herb into the hopper, enough herb maybe placed in the hopper for multiple uses, such that less assistance isneeded for the user. The device may then only process and vaporize apredetermined portion of the herb during each use.

Upon actuation of the standalone device, a small portion of the herbthat has been loaded into the hopper may be transferred to a grinderpowered by a motor, where the herb may be automatically ground withoutfurther effort by the user. In many instances, grinders traditionallyused to grind herb may be manually powered, and are often separate fromany vaporizing device. As such, a user may have to perform several stepswith their hands to put the herb in a grinder, exert a significantdegree of force to cause the grinder to turn or otherwise move to grindthe herb, and then transfer the ground herb to a vaporizer. In theembodiments described herein, the herb may be ground automatically usinga motor, and the ground herb may then be automatically passed to aportion of the device that heats and vaporizes the ground herb. In thisway, the herb may be processed with minimal interaction from the user.

Once the herb is properly heated to create a vapor from the herb, spentherb may be automatically removed from the heating chamber to a spentherb container. The spent herb container may advantageously be sized tohold spent herb from multiple uses of the device, so that the user doesnot have to frequently empty the spent herb container. This againprovides advantages for users with reduced mobility or dexterity, as theuser would not have to empty the spent herb container during most usesof the device. The vaporizer may also include an air pump for moving thevapor created to an output device, such as a balloon or whip. Inaddition, the standalone device may also be capable of performingpartially or fully automated cleaning processes, so that the standalonedevice can be easily cleaned by a user of limited mobility or dexterity.

To further enhance the usability of the herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration devices described herein, they may be controlled usingmany various types of technology. For example, the devices may becontrolled or actuated using a wireless remote control, an applicationon another device (e.g., on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.), aremote switch, on-device buttons or dials, other wireless communicationssuch as Bluetooth, an eye tracking device, an application programminginterface (API), and/or voice control.

Therefore, further described herein are high quality, fully integrated,turn-key herb vaping devices that may be specifically advantageous forthose with physical limitations to enable easy, hands-free marijuanavaping sessions, to use independently without assistance of a caregiver.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example standalone herb processing,vaporizing, and administration apparatus, which includes a vaporizingdevice 170. The vaporizing device 170 includes a hopper 172 into whichherb may be inserted. The hopper 172 may hold a significant amount ofherb that is enough for multiple uses or sessions of vaporizing theherb. The vaporizing device 170 may include a grinder (not shown) at alocation 174 for grinding the herb. In various embodiments, the amountof herb that is ground for a single use or session may be controlledbased on how long the grinder is turned on. That is, the grinder willmove herb from the hopper to an herb entry port 176 and/or a heatingchamber (not shown in FIG. 1) at a particular rate, so the amount ofherb ground and moved from the hopper may be controlled by controllinghow long the grinder is on. Accordingly, an amount of herb ground mayalso be adjusted by adjusting how long the grinder is on.

In other embodiments, other mechanical or electromechanical componentsmay be used to control how much herb is ground per use. For example, arotatable door or louver at the base of the hopper may be opened toallow a certain amount of herb into the grinder. In other embodiments,other methods of controlling the amount of herb that moves from thehopper to the grinder may be used. In still further embodiments, a usermay put the amount of herb they desire for a single session in thehopper, and all the herb in the hopper may be permitted to pass to thegrinder. In still further embodiments, the herb may be pre-packaged in asingle serve container or cartridge. Such single serve containers orcartridges may be loaded into the vaporizing device 170 instead ofputting loose herb into a hopper. The single serve containers orcartridges may then be used one per use or session by the vaporizingdevice 170 by breaking open the containers or cartridges and causing theherb inside to pass to the grinder. Accordingly, many different methodsmay be used to load herb into the vaporizing device and pass a portionor all of that herb to a grinder and heating chamber for vaporizing.

The vaporizing device 170 further includes a motor 178. The motor 178may be used to turn a rotatable grinder to grind the herb. In addition,the motor 178 may also be used to turn a feature in a heating chamber ofthe vaporizing device 170 to move or otherwise disturb ground herb inthe heating chamber. This may ensure that the ground herb is heated andvaporized evenly without burning herb and/or failing to vaporizeportions of the ground herb. The feature may be, for example, a screwfeeder as shown in and described below with respect to FIGS. 2-4.

Once the spent herb is vaporized, an air pump (not shown in FIG. 1) maybe actuated to move air and vapor from the heating chamber to a vaporoutput device. In the example of FIG. 1, the output device is an outputtube 180 connected to a balloon 182. The balloon 182 may therefore storevapor, let it cool, etc. until a user inhales it from the balloon eitherdirectly or indirectly from a whip, mouthpiece, mask, etc.

The vaporizing device 170 may be designed to sit on a table, floor,desk, or anywhere else. Portions of the vaporizing device 170 that areaccessed by the user may be placed in a location that makes access bydifferent types of users (e.g., users in wheelchairs) easy depending onwhat surface the vaporizer device 170 is sitting (e.g., what shape ofobject it is sitting on, height of object, etc.). The vaporizing devicemay also be configurable for mounting to a wheelchair, so that anindividual with limited mobility may have it with them as they movearound in a wheelchair. Any user inputs that the user in the wheelchairmay interact with may be specifically designed and placed on thevaporizer device with the person in the wheelchair in mind, so thatthose user inputs may be easily accessed.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view 200 of an example heating chamber 212,screw feeder 210, and grinder 208 of a standalone herb processing,vaporizing, and administration apparatus, in embodiments. The heatingchamber 212, screw feeder 210, and grinder 208 configuration may beused, for example in the vaporizing device 170 of FIG. 1. A hopper 202may receive herb, and that herb may pass to a grinder 208. The grinder208 may be a burr grinder, conical burr grinder, or may be a differenttype of grinder. The grinder 208 is configured such that herb in thehopper 202 cannot pass into the heating chamber 212 unless the grinder208 is on and is grinding the herb. In other words, the herb may be toolarge to pass by the grinder 208 without being ground. In this way, theamount of herb that passes into the heating chamber may be controlledbased on how long the grinder 208 is actuated.

The grinder 208 is configured to grind the herb by rotating, and teethon the grinder 208 and the inner surface of the heating chamber 212grind the herb into smaller pieces of herb that may pass into theheating chamber. The grinder 208 may be rotated by a motor 204. Themotor 204 is connected to a shaft 206 that is connected to both thegrinder 208 and the screw feeder 210. Accordingly, both the grinder 208and the screw feeder 210 may be turned by the same motor 204. In someembodiments, it may be desirable to turn the grinder 208 and the screwfeeder 210 at different rates or at different times. In suchembodiments, multiple motors may be used. To turn the grinder 208 andthe screw feeder 210 at different rates, a single motor may be usedalong with a gear box being intermediate between a shaft of the singlemotor and at least one of the grinder 208 and the screw feeder 210, sothat the grinder 208 and/or the screw feeder 210 may be rotated atdifferent rates. The screw feeder 210 may be a drill bit, auger, screwconveyer, auger conveyer, or any other type of variable rate feeder.

The motor 204 may also be variable speed, so that the shaft 206 may berotated at different rates as desired to control the rate at which herbis ground and/or at which ground herb is agitated or moved through theheating chamber 212. In various embodiments, multiple features thatcontrol the amount of herb that is ground and/or heated may be used. Forexample, a louver or other moveable mechanical door may be locatedbetween the hopper 202 and the grinder 208 to control how much herb isallowed into the grinder 208. Once the grinder 208 has been on and thedoor has been open for a predetermined amount of time, the door mayclose but the grinder 208 may continue to turn to finish grinding anyherb that has already moved past the door. In this way, the motor 204may also continue to cause the screw feeder 210 to rotate to agitate ormove the herb within the heating chamber 212, without causing more herbto be ground and move from the hopper to the grinder 208 and the heatingchamber 212.

The screw feeder 210 is configured to move the herb through the heatingchamber 212. The end of the heating chamber 212 connected to the hopper202 may also be oriented to be above or higher than an end of theheating chamber 212 connected to a spent herb outlet 214. In this way,gravity also may serve to help move herb or anything else in the heatingchamber 212 (e.g., cleaning solution) toward the spent herb outlet 214.The screw feeder 210 in the example of FIG. 2 is therefore configured tolower the herb through the heating chamber 212 so that it can begradually heated within the heating chamber thereby creating a vapor. Asdiscussed herein, the motor 204 may be rotated at different rates and/ora gear box may be used to control the rate at which the screw feeder 210moves. In this way, the rate at which the herb moves through the heatingchamber 212 may be controlled so that the herb is in the heating chamber212 for a desired amount of time for a given temperature so as toproperly vaporize the herb.

In various embodiments, the screw feeder 210 may be configureddifferently or may be a different type of component than an screwfeeder. For example, the screw feeder may instead be a rotatable paddleor mixer that agitates herb within the heating chamber 212. In such anembodiment, the heating chamber 212 may have a door at the end of theheating chamber 212 where it connects to the spent herb outlet 214 sothat the herb cannot fall out of the heating chamber 212 until the dooris opened. In another embodiment, a conveyor or similar mechanism may beused to move the herb through the heating chamber 212 at a particularrate.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of an example heating chamber 302and screw feeder 304 of a standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration apparatus, in embodiments. In the example of FIG. 3, theheating chamber 302 is shown as transparent so that the screw feeder 304is visible within the heating chamber 302.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view of an example heatingchamber 402 and screw feeder 404 of the standalone herb processing,vaporizing, and administration apparatus of FIG. 1, in embodiments. Theheating chamber 402 and/or the screw feeder 404 may be made of metal orother suitable material for conducting heat, so that herb within theheating chamber may be effectively heated as desired. As describedherein, the screw feeder 404 may move ground herb from a first end ofthe heating chamber at which the ground herb is initially received to asecond end at which the ground herb is output from the heating chamber.The second end (not pictured), may be connected to a spent herbcontainer.

FIG. 5 is a partially exploded perspective view of the standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus of FIG. 1 with oneside of the housing having been removed, in embodiments. In FIG. 5,various internal components of the vaporizing device 170 of FIG. 1 arevisible. Those internal components include a heating chamber 502, a bandheater clamp 504, a thermocouple 506, a spent herb outlet 510, an airpump 512, a moveable sealing component 514, air tubing 516 a controller518, and a valve 520.

As described herein, herb may be moved from a hopper and/or grinder (notshown in FIG. 5) to the herb entry port 176 to pass into the heatingchamber 502. The heating chamber 502 may be heated by a band heater (notshown in FIG. 5), which is held in place around the heating chamber 502by a band heater clamp 504. The band heater may be controlled by and/orpowered by the controller 518. In various embodiments, electricalcomponents of the vaporizing device 170 may be powered by an auxiliarypower and controlled by a processor or controller.

A temperature of the band heater and/or the heating chamber 502 may alsobe measured using the thermocouple 506. In this way, the temperature ofthe heating chamber 502 may be controlled based on feedback provided viathe thermocouple 506. Accordingly, the heating chamber 502 may be heatedto different temperatures for different amounts of time as desired orbased on the type of herb used, the amount of herb in the heatingchamber, the amount of time herb spends in the chamber (e.g., based onthe rotation of an screw feeder within the chamber), etc.

After passing through the heating chamber 502, the spent herb may thenpass to the spent herb outlet 510 located at a second end of the heatingchamber 502. As is shown in FIG. 5, a first end of the heating chamber502 that is connected to the herb entry port 176 is oriented higher thanthe second end of the heating chamber 502. The heating chamber 502 iscylindrical or tube shaped, and oriented at an angle between zero andninety degrees with respect to a base of the vaporizing device. In someembodiments, the heating chamber 502 may be oriented at any degree fromzero to ninety degrees, including angles such as 0 degrees, 5 degrees,10 degrees, 15 degrees, 20 degrees, 25 degrees, 30 degrees, 35 degrees,40 degrees, 45 degrees, 50 degrees, 55 degrees, 60 degrees, 65 degrees,70 degrees, 75 degrees, 80 degrees, 85 degrees, or 90 degrees. With theheating chamber 502 angled downward, the ground herb may generally movein at least a partially downward direction as it travels through theheating chamber 502.

The air pump 512 is connected to the spent herb outlet 510. The spentherb outlet 510 may be insulated from the heating chamber 502 so that itdoes not get as hot as the heating chamber 502. In this way, the vaporproduced in the heating chamber 502 may not continue to heat while it isin the spent herb outlet 510 and/or may cool down in the spent herboutlet 510. The spent herb outlet 510 may also be shaped so that an airconnection to the air pump 512 and/or the tubing 516 is placed so thatspent herb cannot get into the tubing 516. Such a connection may alsohave a filter to allow air and vapor into the tubing but not anyparticulate matter such as the spent herb.

The moveable sealing component 514 may be moveable to allow spent herbto pass from the spent herb outlet 510 to a spent herb container (notshown in FIG. 5). The spent herb container may be able to hold asignificant amount of spent herb or other material (e.g., cleaningsolution), so that the spent herb container need not be emptied aftereach use of the vaporizer device 170. In various embodiments, themoveable sealing component 514 may be located or placed differently thanas shown in FIG. 5, or additional moveable sealing components may beused. For example, a moveable sealing component may exist between theheating chamber 502 and the spent herb outlet 510, so that herb or othermaterials (e.g., cleaning solution) may be kept in the heating chamber502 as desired. Any moveable sealing components, including the moveablesealing component 514 may be controlled via the controller 518 asdesired. The controller 518 may therefore, as an example, control aheating element of the heating chamber 502 to heat the heating chamber502 to a predetermined temperature and control an screw feeder withinthe heating chamber 502 to move the ground herb through the heatingchamber 502, such that the ground herb is in the heating chamber 502 fora predetermined amount of time at a predetermined temperature.

The valve 520 may also be controllable by the controller 518. The valve520 is positioned along an airway between the heating chamber and thevapor output device. In particular, the valve 520 may only allow air andvapor to flow one way—from the tubing 516 to the output tube 180. Inaddition, the valve 520 may be controllable so that when the valve 520is open, air and vapor is allowed to flow from the tubing 516 to theoutput tube 180, but while the valve 520 is closed, no air is permittedto flow past the valve 520. Thus, the valve 520 may be a one-waycontrollable check valve. In various embodiments, other configurationsof valves are possible.

The valve 520 may be controlled to only be open while the air pump 512is operational. In this way, air and vapor may not pass through thevalve 520 when it should not, and air and vapor may not pass from theoutput tube 180 to the tubing 516 at all. Such a configuration may bedesirable for protecting a user and/or ensuring a quality of the vaporcreated by the vaporizing device 170. For example, while the heatingchamber 502 is heating herb and creating vapor, it may be desirable toprevent that air from moving to the output tube 180 (e.g., by a usersucking air through a whip or mouthpiece) before the herb is completelyvaporized. Furthermore, it may be desirable to keep air that is too hot(and therefore unsafe for a user) from passing to the output tube 180.Accordingly, the thermocouple 506 may be used to monitor a temperatureof the heating chamber, and the controller may then only switch on theair pump 512 once the temperature has reached a level that is safe forthe user. The valve 520 also prevents the user from blowing air into thesystem, which may cause the system to malfunction or work lessefficiently. Similarly, the valve 520 also prevents air from outside thevaporizer from getting into the vaporizer and mixing with the vapor. Invarious embodiments, different types of valves may be used that havedifferent functionalities. For example, one or more valves and/or airpumps may be configured to intake ambient air from outside of the closedsystem of the heating chamber 502 and the tubing 516. In this way, airmay be mixed with vapor and sent to the output tube 180. This may beused to control a dose or amount of vapor received by the user, adjustthe amount of vapor and fresh air mix for preference of the user, toreduce the harshness of vapor that reaches the user, reduce thetemperature of vapor that reaches the user, or for any other desiredpurpose.

The valve 520 may further be electrically controlled by a processor orcontroller such as the controller 518. The valve 520 may therefore be anelectrically controllable valve configured to switch between an open anda closed position as described herein. The valve 520 may therefore beelectrically controllable to permit air and vapor to move from theheating chamber 502 to a vapor output device while the valve 520 isopen, prevent air and vapor from moving from a vapor output device tothe heating chamber 502 while the valve 520 is open, and prevent air andvapor from moving past the valve 520 in either direction while the valve520 is closed. As described herein, the controller 518 may be furtherconfigured to control the valve 520 and the air pump 512 tosimultaneously actuate, such that air and vapor move from the heatingchamber 502 to a vapor output device only while the air pump 512 isactivated.

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the heating chamber 502, airpump 512, valve 520, and vapor output device of the standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus of FIG. 1, inembodiments. In particular, the valve 520 is connected to t-joint 602that connects to output tubing 606 and a balloon 604. In such aconfiguration, the output tubing 606 may be connected to a mouthpiece,whip, ventilator adapter, mask, etc. as desired for output of the vapor.The output tubing 606 or other output device may include a one-way valvethat may be actuated when a user sucks air, for example. In this way,when the air pump is on and the valve 520 is open, vapor and air maymove into the balloon for storage and not escape into ambient air viathe output tubing 606. A user may receive air and vapor via the outputtubing 606 either from air and vapor stored in the balloon 604 and/or asit is output from the valve 520. In various embodiments, a balloon maynot be used, and some other vapor storage device (e.g., a bag) or novapor storage device may be used.

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of the heating chamber 502 and aheating element 702 of the standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration apparatus of FIG. 1, in embodiments. The heating element702 is a band heater, which is in contact with the heating chamber 502,so that it may heat the heating chamber when powered by electricity. Acontroller or processor, such as the controller 518, may control whenand how much power is sent to the heating element 702, and therebycontrol how hot the heating chamber 502 becomes, as measured by thethermocouple 506. The heating element 702 is held in place by the bandheater clamp 504.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustrating an example standalone herbprocessing, vaporizing, and administration system 800, in embodiments.In particular, the standalone herb processing, vaporizing, andadministration system 800 includes a power source 802, a memory 804,controller(s) 806, user input(s) 808, a display 810, motor(s) for anscrew feeder and/or grinder, an air pump 814, a valve 816, a heatingchamber door 818, a temperature sensor 820, a wireless transceiver 822,a computing device 824, and a heating element 826. The power source 802may provide power to the entire system 800, and therefore may also beconnected directly to other aspects of the system 800 shown in FIG. 8,even though such direct connections are not shown. Other power sourcesmay also be used, or transformers may be used, to condition power forvarious components of the system 800 that may use different types ofpower (e.g., alternating current vs. direct current, different voltages,different frequencies, different amperages, etc.).

The controller(s) 806 may be a computer processor that executesinstructions stored on the memory 804 to control different aspects ofthe system 800. For example, the controller(s) 806 may receive an inputfrom the user input(s) 808 or from the computing device 824 via thewireless transceiver 822. The wireless transceiver 822 may be in or on avaporizer device so that the vaporizer device may wirelessly communicatewith other devices (e.g., the computing device 824).

As described herein, the user input(s) 808 may be any type of input,such as a touchscreen, buttons, eye movement or other visual trackingusing a camera or other sensor (e.g., for gesture tracking and control),a microphone for voice control, or any other type of user input device.Using the user input(s) 808, the user may cause the vaporizer device toturn on and create vapor, enter a cleaning mode, adjust a temperature towhich the herb should be heated, adjust an amount of time the herbshould be heated, enter a predetermined vaporize mode (e.g., a certainamount of time and temperature preconfigured for a particular type ofherb), adjust the speed at which a motor in the system turns, adjust aspeed at which an air pump moves air and vapor within the system oroutputting air and vapor from the system, or for any other function. Anyfunction that may be controllable using the user input(s) 808 may alsobe controllable using the computing device 824, for example through anapplication, API, or any other method for controlling a device remotely.The wireless communications between the wireless transceiver 822 and thecomputing device 824 may be made over WiFi, Bluetooth, infrared, and/orany other type of wireless communication.

In various embodiments, the vaporizer devices herein may have a oneinput operation mode. In such an operation mode, a single input may beall that is required from a user to cause herb to be vaporized. Forexample, after herb is loaded into a hopper, any type of input via theuser input(s) 808 described herein may be made, and the system mayautomatically grind, heat, and move vapor to an output device forconsumption by a user. Thus, the system advantageously requires littleinteraction from a user to vaporize herb.

The controller(s) 806 may further execute instructions to turn on, turnoff, or adjust a speed of the motor(s) for an screw feeder and/orgrinder 812. In various embodiments, more than one motor may be used inthe system 800 and controlled using the controller(s) 806. Thecontroller(s) 806 may further execute instructions to turn on, turn off,or adjust a speed of the air pump 814 that moves air and/or vapor withinthe system 800 and to an output of the system 800. The controller(s) 806may further execute instructions for opening or closing the valve(s)816. The valve(s) 816 may be or may include a valve such as the valve520 of FIG. 5 described above. As such, the controller(s) 806 maycontrol the valve(s) 816 to control output of air and vapor from thesystem as described herein.

Similarly, the controller(s) 806 may moveably control a heating chamberdoor 818. The heating chamber door 818 may be a moveable sealingcomponent as described herein, or may be any type of louver or moveablecomponent for restricting or permitting movement of vapor, fluid, herb,etc. between different internal components of the system 800 asdescribed herein. In various embodiments, more than one door or moveablecomponent may be used as desired.

The controller may also send signals to the display 810 to indicate astatus of the system, such as currently cleaning, currently in standby,currently vaporizing, currently grinding, a temperature of the heatingchamber, a temperature of vapor within the system, whether the air pumpis on or off, etc. Other output devices than a display may also be used,such as a speaker that may emit sound when vaporizing or cleaning iscomplete, or that emits voice audio with instructions for operation to auser.

The controller may also receive signals from a temperature sensor 820,such as the thermocouple 506 of FIG. 5. In this way, the controller(s)806 may determine the temperature of a heating chamber as describedherein and send a signal to the heating element 826 to cause the heatingchamber to heat or cool to a desired temperature. In variousembodiments, more than one temperature sensor may be used so that thetemperature of different portions of a vaporizer may be monitored and/orused to determine how to control various aspects of the system 800. Forexample, a temperature sensor may also be placed within a chamber whereair and/or vapor is pumped from the heating chamber to an output device(e.g., at the spent herb outlet 510 of FIG. 5). Such a temperaturesensor may be used to monitor air temperature that may be pumped to anoutput device to ensure the air is not too hot for a user. If the air isabove a predetermined threshold temperature, the controller(s) 806 maywait until the air drops to a predetermined temperature or drops belowthe predetermined threshold temperature before pumping air to an outputdevice for the safety of the user. Such thresholds may be manually setby the user or may be preconfigured upon manufacture and setup of thevaporizer device. Although FIG. 8 shows various components of just oneexample vaporizer device, different, additional, or fewer components maybe used in accordance with various embodiments described herein.

In some embodiments, the temperature settings of the vaporizer may bedesigned to correspond to desired compounds within an herb (e.g.,different cannabinoid compounds) that a user desires to be vaporized.Accordingly, an experience may be customized based on different presettemperatures the heating element 826 may be heated to. Such temperaturesettings may be associated with different types of experiences that aredisplayed or otherwise presented to a user, such as calm, reduceanxiety/depression, pain relief, or any other preset functions/settings.The user may select such a preset function using one or more userinput(s) 808, which may then automatically process and vaporize the herbaccording to the preconfigured experience settings.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an example method 900 of using astandalone herb processing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus tocreate a vapor from herb, in embodiments. In an operation 902, herb isreceived at an herb receiving port (e.g., the herb receiving port 176 ofFIGS. 1 and 5). In an operation 904, the herb is ground by a grinderinto ground herb. The grinder may be, for example, the grinder 208 ofFIG. 2.

In an operation 906, the ground herb is heated to create a vapor whilethe herb is moved through a heating chamber (e.g., the heating chamber502 of FIG. 5). In an operation 908, spent herb (e.g., ground herb thathas been thoroughly heated and vaporized), is moved from the heatingchamber to a spent herb container for storage. The spent herb containermay be sized to hold many uses/sessions worth of spent herb, so that thespent herb container need only be emptied periodically. In an operation910, the vapor created may be pumped to a vapor output device, such as amask, ventilator adapter, whip, balloon, bag, etc.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating an example method 1000 of cleaningstandalone herb processing, vaporizing, and administration apparatus, inembodiments. Like the apparatuses, methods, and systems described hereinfor vaporizing herb using a vaporizing device, a cleaning process ofsuch a vaporizing device may also be automated to reduce interactionrequired to clean the vaporizer device. Such cleaning methods may beadvantageous, for example, for a user with limited mobility and/ordexterity who may not be able to adequately perform all of the manualsteps of cleaning a vaporizer device. The example method 1000 describesa cleaning method that uses two different cleaning solutions, one at atime, to adequately clean a vaporizer device. However, methods using asingle cleaning solution or using more than two cleaning solutions maybe used according to various embodiments. In some embodiments, acleaning process may involve one or more cleaning solutions and one ormore other fluids that are not cleaning solutions, such as water torinse a system before, after, and/or during cleaning.

Such cleaning methods may use fluids that are manually added to thesystem whenever cleaning is desired or required, or the vaporizerdevices described herein may optionally have reservoirs for storing oneor more fluids used for cleaning, so that the system may be cleanedwithout manually adding fluids for cleaning each time. In someembodiments, if water is used for example, the vaporizer may beconnected to a water pipe, faucet, or other water line in a house orother structure so that the vaporizer may consistently be connected to asupply of water. In this way, the interaction required by a user toclean the vaporizer device may be further reduced.

In an operation 1002 of the method 1000, a first cleaning solution isreceived. The first cleaning solution may be received by a firstcleaning solution container configured especially for the first cleaningsolution. In other embodiments, the first cleaning solution may be addedto an opening in a vaporizer device that is not solely for the firstcleaning solution, such as the hopper 172 of the vaporizer device 170 inFIG. 1.

In an operation 1004, the first cleaning solution is moved through theheating chamber while the heating chamber is heated to a firsttemperature. Optionally, the heating chamber may not be heated while thefirst cleaning solution is in the heating chamber. In addition, to aidin the cleaning and contacting of surfaces in the heating chamber withthe first cleaning solution, the screw feeder or other moveable aspectwithin the heating chamber may be actuated to circulate the firstcleaning solution within the heating chamber.

In an operation 1006, the first cleaning solution is moved from theheating chamber to a spent herb container. In some embodiments, aseparate spent cleaning solution chamber may receive and store any spentcleaning solution to, instead of it being moved to the same container asspent herb. Optionally, the heating chamber may be heated after thefirst cleaning solution is moved out of the heating chamber to evaporateremaining liquid within the heating chamber. Similarly, the air pump maybe switched on to move air through the heating chamber to assist inevaporating liquid within the heating chamber.

In an operation 1008, a second cleaning solution is received. Usingmultiple cleaning solutions may be beneficial for efficiently cleaning avaporizer device. Like the first cleaning solution, the second cleaningsolution may be input into a dedicated second cleaning solutionreceiving container, or may be added to an area that receives herband/or other cleaning solutions or fluids. In an operation 1010, thesecond cleaning solution is moved through the heating chamber while theheating chamber is heated to a desired temperature. The desiredtemperature may be different than a temperature used with the firstcleaning solution based on characteristics or properties of the twocleaning solutions. Optionally, the screw feeder or other agitatingdevice within the heating chamber may be moved to circulate the secondcleaning solution within the heating chamber. The second cleaningsolution may not be added to the heating chamber until after the firstcleaning solution has been removed from the heating chamber, or thefirst and second cleaning solutions may be added to the heating chamberat the same time.

In an operation 1012, the second cleaning solution is moved from theheating chamber to the spent herb container (or other output forcleaning solution). In an operation 1014, after the second cleaningsolution is moved out of the heating chamber, the heating chamber isheated and/or the air pump is turned on to evaporate moisture from thecleaning solutions that may still be in the heating chamber. Moisture inthe heating chamber may negatively impact how herb is vaporized, so thesystem evaporates excess moisture before entering a vaporizing modeagain. In some embodiments, the operation 1014 may last for apredetermined amount of time, until the heating chamber reaches acertain temperature, until the heating chamber is a certain temperaturefor a predetermined amount of time, or any other method for properlyevaporating moisture within the heating chamber. In some embodiments,the vaporizing device may include a moisture or humidity sensor withinthe heating chamber, air pump, tubing, spent herb outlet, etc. tomeasure a moisture quantity in the air from or within the heatingchamber. Such a sensor may be used to run the evaporation cycle for aslong as needed to remove moisture from the heating chamber to anacceptable degree.

A moisture or humidity sensor may also be used to determine if herb inthe heating chamber is not yet completely spent. For example, if herb isnot spent, it may be kept in the heating chamber and used during thenext session. The moisture sensor may indicate a humidity or moisturelevel that indicates whether the herb is spent or not. Thus, thecontroller may determine whether to keep herb in the heating chamber fora subsequent use or move the herb to a spent herb container if themoisture level is below a predetermined threshold indicating that theherb is spent.

Because the heating chamber may be angled downward as shown in anddescribed with respect to FIG. 5 above, the cleaning solution mayadvantageously flow through the system from top to bottom, stopping onlywhen moveable seals, doors, louvers, etc. block it from flowing.Advantageously, this can provide for a system with few moving parts thatmay be very easily operated, including by a user with limited mobilityor dexterity. In other words, because the first end of a heating chambermay be oriented closer to the top of a standalone herb processing,vaporizing, and administration apparatus than a second end of theheating chamber, cleaning solution may be acted upon by gravity to movefrom the first end of the heating chamber to the second end of theheating chamber. Similarly, the spent herb container or other containerin which waste herb and/or cleaning solution is stored may be locatedbelow the second end of the heating chamber, such that gravity may alsoact to move cleaning solution and/or herb into the waste herb orcleaning solution storage containers (when the moveable sealing doors,louvers, etc. are controlled to permit such movement as desired). Inthis way, a moveable sealing component may keep the cleaning solution inthe heating chamber during cleaning (and prevent the cleaning solutionfrom moving to a spent herb container), but may permit the movement ofthe cleaning solution to the spent herb container or other waste storagecontainer once the moveable sealing component is opened or otherwiseunsealed.

While embodiments related to specific easy-to-use, automated systems fordispensing vapor from herb are described herein other systems may alsobe used to dispense vapor to a user in such automated ways that requirelittle interaction from an end-user. For example, herb may be placed ona rotating disk or other movement/conveyor system that moves the herb toa grinder, then to a heater, and then to an open slot for waste once theherb is spent. Other systems may utilize oils or waxes for vaporizing.For example, a pressure driven fluidics system may be used to transportand move oil or wax through different components of a vaporizer. As justone example, oil or wax may be put in a syringe that is placed in amotorized screw driven syringe pump for dispensing the oil or wax anddriving flow of the oil or wax. The oil or wax may be dispensed to ametal tube with a portion that has a band heater for heating the oil orwax into vapor. Accordingly, various embodiments for automaticallydispensing vapor to a user may be used as described herein.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view of an illustrative computing system thatincludes a general purpose computing system environment 120, such as adesktop computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, or any other such devicehaving the ability to execute instructions, such as those stored withina non-transient, computer-readable medium. Furthermore, while describedand illustrated in the context of a single computing system 120, thoseskilled in the art will also appreciate that the various tasks describedhereinafter may be practiced in a distributed environment havingmultiple computing systems 120 linked via a local or wide-area networkin which the executable instructions may be associated with and/orexecuted by one or more of multiple computing systems 120.

In its most basic configuration, computing system environment 120typically includes at least one processing unit 122 and at least onememory 124, which may be linked via a bus 126. Depending on the exactconfiguration and type of computing system environment, memory 124 maybe volatile (such as RAM 130), non-volatile (such as ROM 128, flashmemory, etc.) or some combination of the two. Computing systemenvironment 120 may have additional features and/or functionality. Forexample, computing system environment 120 may also include additionalstorage (removable and/or non-removable) including, but not limited to,magnetic or optical disks, tape drives and/or flash drives. Suchadditional memory devices may be made accessible to the computing systemenvironment 120 by means of, for example, a hard disk drive interface132, a magnetic disk drive interface 134, and/or an optical disk driveinterface 136. As will be understood, these devices, which would belinked to the system bus 126, respectively, allow for reading from andwriting to a hard disk 138, reading from or writing to a removablemagnetic disk 140, and/or for reading from or writing to a removableoptical disk 142, such as a CD/DVD ROM or other optical media. The driveinterfaces and their associated computer-readable media allow for thenonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules and other data for the computing system environment 120.Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that other types ofcomputer readable media that can store data may be used for this samepurpose. Examples of such media devices include, but are not limited to,magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoullicartridges, random access memories, nano-drives, memory sticks, otherread/write and/or read-only memories and/or any other method ortechnology for storage of information such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Any suchcomputer storage media may be part of computing system environment 120.

A number of program modules may be stored in one or more of thememory/media devices. For example, a basic input/output system (BIOS)144, containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within the computing system environment 120, such asduring start-up, may be stored in ROM 128. Similarly, RAM 130, harddrive 138, and/or peripheral memory devices may be used to storecomputer executable instructions comprising an operating system 146, oneor more applications programs 148 (such as a Web browser and/or otherapplications that execute the methods and processes of this disclosure),other program modules 150, and/or program data 152. Still further,computer-executable instructions may be downloaded to the computingenvironment 120 as needed, for example, via a network connection.

An end-user, e.g., a customer, retail associate, and the like, may entercommands and information into the computing system environment 120through input devices such as a keyboard 154 and/or a pointing device156. While not illustrated, other input devices may include amicrophone, a joystick, a game pad, a scanner, etc. These and otherinput devices would typically be connected to the processing unit 122 bymeans of a peripheral interface 158 which, in turn, would be coupled tobus 126. Input devices may be directly or indirectly connected toprocessor 122 via interfaces such as, for example, a parallel port, gameport, firewire, or a universal serial bus (USB). To view informationfrom the computing system environment 120, a monitor 160 or other typeof display device may also be connected to bus 26 via an interface, suchas via video adapter 162. In addition to the monitor 160, the computingsystem environment 120 may also include other peripheral output devices,not shown, such as speakers and printers.

The computing system environment 120 may also utilize logicalconnections to one or more computing system environments. Communicationsbetween the computing system environment 120 and the remote computingsystem environment may be exchanged via a further processing device,such a network router 152, that is responsible for network routing.Communications with the network router 152 may be performed via anetwork interface component 154. Thus, within such a networkedenvironment, e.g., the Internet, World Wide Web, LAN, or other like typeof wired or wireless network, it will be appreciated that programmodules depicted relative to the computing system environment 120, orportions thereof, may be stored in the memory storage device(s) of thecomputing system environment 120.

The computing system environment 120 may also include localizationhardware 156 for determining a location of the computing systemenvironment 120. In embodiments, the localization hardware 156 mayinclude, for example only, a GPS antenna, an RFID chip or reader, a WiFiantenna, or other computing hardware that may be used to capture ortransmit signals that may be used to determine the location of thecomputing system environment 120.

While this disclosure has described certain embodiments, it will beunderstood that the claims are not intended to be limited to theseembodiments except as explicitly recited in the claims. On the contrary,the instant disclosure is intended to cover alternatives, modificationsand equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope ofthe disclosure. Furthermore, in the detailed description of the presentdisclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. However, it willbe obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that systems and methodsconsistent with this disclosure may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components,and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarilyobscure various aspects of the present disclosure.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions of this disclosure have beenpresented in terms of procedures, logic blocks, processing, and othersymbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer ordigital system memory. These descriptions and representations are themeans used by those skilled in the data processing arts to mosteffectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in theart. A procedure, logic block, process, etc., is herein, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructionsleading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physicalmanipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily,these physical manipulations take the form of electrical or magneticdata capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, andotherwise manipulated in a computer system or similar electroniccomputing device. For reasons of convenience, and with reference tocommon usage, such data is referred to as bits, values, elements,symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like, with reference tovarious embodiments of the present invention.

It should be borne in mind, however, that these terms are to beinterpreted as referencing physical manipulations and quantities and aremerely convenient labels that should be interpreted further in view ofterms commonly used in the art. Unless specifically stated otherwise, asapparent from the discussion herein, it is understood that throughoutdiscussions of the present embodiment, discussions utilizing terms suchas “determining” or “outputting” or “transmitting” or “recording” or“locating” or “storing” or “displaying” or “receiving” or “recognizing”or “utilizing” or “generating” or “providing” or “accessing” or“checking” or “notifying” or “delivering” or the like, refer to theaction and processes of a computer system, or similar electroniccomputing device, that manipulates and transforms data. The data isrepresented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computersystem's registers and memories and is transformed into other datasimilarly represented as physical quantities within the computer systemmemories or registers, or other such information storage, transmission,or display devices as described herein or otherwise understood to one ofordinary skill in the art.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. An herb vaporizing apparatus comprising: a vaporoutput; a grinder configured to receive herb and grind the herb intoground herb; a heating element; a heating chamber configured to receivethe ground herb, wherein: the heating chamber comprises a first end anda second end, the ground herb enters the heating chamber at the firstend, and the first end of the heating chamber is positioned closer to atop of the herb vaporizing apparatus than the second end of the heatingchamber, such that the ground herb generally moves in at least apartially downward direction as it enters the heating chamber; an airpump configured to move air into the heating chamber; and a filter,wherein: air is heated by the heating element to create heated air thatheats the ground herb in the heating chamber to create a vapor, movementof air into the heating chamber is configured to cause a mixture of theheated air and the vapor to be output from the heating chamber into thevapor output, and the filter is located between the heating chamber andthe vapor output to prevent the ground herb from entering the outputtubing.
 22. The herb vaporizing apparatus of claim 21, furthercomprising a valve configured to permit air and the vapor to move fromthe heating chamber to the vapor output.
 23. The herb vaporizingapparatus of claim 21, wherein the valve is further configured toprevent air and the vapor from moving from the vapor output device intothe heating chamber.
 24. The herb vaporizing apparatus of claim 21,further comprising a temperature sensor configured to monitor atemperature of the heating chamber.
 25. The herb vaporizing apparatus ofclaim 21, further comprising a hopper attached to the grinder, whereinthe hopper is configured to receive the herb and pass it to the grinder.26. The herb vaporizing apparatus of claim 25, wherein the hopper isconfigured to receive a quantity of the herb that is enough for multipleuses of the herb vaporizing apparatus.
 27. The herb vaporizing apparatusof claim 25, wherein the herb may be transferred from the hopper to thegrinder based on actuation of a motor.
 28. The herb vaporizing apparatusof claim 27, wherein a predetermined amount of the herb is transferredfrom the hopper to the grinder upon each instance of the actuation ofthe motor.
 29. The herb vaporizing apparatus of claim 28, wherein thepredetermined amount of the herb is transferred via a rotatable door ora louver at a base of the hopper and controllable by the motor.
 30. Theherb vaporizing apparatus of claim 21, wherein the grinder is powered bya motor, such that the herb is automatically ground based on actuationof the motor.
 31. The herb vaporizing apparatus of claim 21, wherein thegrinder is powered manually by a user.
 32. The herb vaporizing apparatusof claim 21, wherein the ground herb passes directly from the grinderinto the heating chamber.
 33. The herb vaporizing apparatus of claim 32,wherein the ground herb falls into the heating chamber into the heatingchamber based on a gravitational force.
 34. The herb vaporizingapparatus of claim 21, further comprising a controller configured tocontrol: a motor associated with the grinder, and the air pump.
 35. Theherb vaporizing apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a display,wherein a controller is configured to output to the display at least oneof: a status of the herb vaporizing apparatus, a temperature of theheating chamber, a temperature of the vapor within the herb vaporizingapparatus, or whether the air pump is on or off.
 36. The herb vaporizingapparatus of claim 21, further comprising a speaker configured to emit asound to indicate that a vaporizing process is complete.
 37. A methodfor vaporizing herb comprising: receiving herb at a grinder; grindingthe herb into ground herb; moving the ground herb into a heatingchamber, wherein: the heating chamber comprises a first end and a secondend, the ground herb enters the heating chamber at the first end, andthe first end of the heating chamber is positioned closer to a top ofthe herb vaporizing apparatus than the second end of the heatingchamber, such that the ground herb generally moves in at least apartially downward direction as it enters the heating chamber; heatingair in the heating chamber to create heated air that heats the groundherb in the heating chamber to create a vapor; and moving air into theheating chamber to cause a mixture of the heated air and the vapor to beoutput from the heating chamber into a vapor output, wherein a filter islocated between the heating chamber and the vapor output to prevent theground herb from entering the output tubing.
 38. The method of claim 37,further comprising receiving the herb at the grinder from a hopper. 39.The method of claim 37, wherein the ground herb passes directly from thegrinder into the heating chamber.
 40. An herb vaporizing apparatuscomprising: a vapor output; a grinder configured to receive herb andgrind the herb into ground herb; a heating element; a heating chamberconfigured to receive the ground herb, wherein: the heating chambercomprises a first end and a second end, the ground herb enters theheating chamber at the first end, and the first end of the heatingchamber is positioned closer to a top of the herb vaporizing apparatusthan the second end of the heating chamber, such that the ground herbgenerally moves in at least a partially downward direction as it entersthe heating chamber; an air pump configured to move air into the heatingchamber; a temperature sensor configured to monitor a temperature of theheating chamber; a display, wherein a controller is configured to outputto the display at least one of: a status of the herb vaporizingapparatus, a temperature of the heating chamber, a temperature of thevapor within the herb vaporizing apparatus, or whether the air pump ison or off; and a filter, wherein: air is heated by the heating elementto create heated air that heats the ground herb in the heating chamberto create a vapor, movement of air into the heating chamber isconfigured to cause a mixture of the heated air and the vapor to beoutput from the heating chamber into the vapor output, the filter islocated between the heating chamber and the vapor output to prevent theground herb from entering the output tubing, the ground herb falls intothe heating chamber into the heating chamber based on a gravitationalforce.